Initialize and Format a Disk in Windows Using Disk Management

In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll show you how to initialize and format a disk using Disk Management.

When attaching disks to a server or workstation running Windows, they don’t automatically appear in Windows Explorer. You need to bring disks online, initialize, and format them before they can be used. Disk Management is a tool in all versions of Windows that allows you to manage disks attached to the device.

In this article, I’m going to use Hyper-V to run Windows Server 2012 R2 in a virtual machine (VM). I’ve already installed the operating system, and as part of the process, a system disk is added by default. But I want to add an additional disk, so I used Hyper-V manager to add an additional disk to the VM. For more information on working with disks in Hyper-V, see Hyper-V Virtual Machine Storage Controllers Explained on the Petri IT Knowledgebase.

Once the disk is attached to the server or VM, you need to log in to Windows and open Disk Management. The instructions that follow also apply to Windows 10, and most other supported versions of Windows:

Log in to the device as a local administrator.

Right-click the Start button on the taskbar, and select Disk Management from the menu.